Moving to Berlin on a Working Holiday
A working holiday is a prime way for young people to experience living, travelling and working in Germany. The German Working Holiday Programme is open to citizens from:
But what are the key steps for starting out on a working holiday in Berlin? Find out below…
Working Holiday Visa
Before embarking on a 1-year German Working Holiday, you will need a Working Holiday Visa.
Thankfully, a Working Holiday Visa is one of the simpler German visas to obtain. We have laid out how to successfully apply in our guides:
Health Insurance
Health insurance is mandatory for everyone living in Germany, including for those on a working holiday. You also need suitable insurance to apply for a Working Holiday Visa, which must:
Be valid for the entirety of the visa.
Cover €30,000 in medical costs.
Cover repatriation.
Thankfully, there is a great health insurance option for working holidaymakers in the form of Feather’s Expat Health Insurance. To read more about why this insurance cover is suitable, see our German health insurance guide.
Accommodation
When arriving in Berlin on a working holiday, you will of course need a place to live. However, finding suitable long-term accommodation can be challenging and takes time.
To get you started, a great option is to initially book a short-term, furnished apartment with Smartments. They have 3 Berlin locations in Prenzlauer Berg, Karlshorst and City-West, and offer address registration (Anmeldung) with just a 14-night booking.
For further tips on finding a long-term apartment in Berlin and registering at an address, see our Berlin Apartment Hunting Guide.
Banking
On arrival in a new country, it is essential that you can easily access your money while steering clear of costly bank fees, poor exchange rates and slow international transfers.
For working holidaymakers, our favourite choice is a Wise borderless account. Through Wise, you can manage 40 currencies in your account and transfer between them in seconds, a valuable service for newcomers in Germany.
For alternative options, see our Banking Guide for Germany.
Personal Liability Insurance
While it is an ‘optional’ insurance, the majority of residents in Germany consider personal liability insurance to be a necessity. And for good reason. In Germany, accidents and mishaps can result in severe financial consequences in the event you cause injury or damage to a third party.
For under €5 a month, you can get the liability cover you need from GETSAFE, a reliable and expat-friendly insurance provider.
To find out more about the importance of personal liability insurance in Germany, see here.
Job Searching
You are permitted to work on a Working Holiday Visa. To help you get started, we have put together extensive resources to help you with your job hunt:
Starting work in Germany
Once you have secured a job offer in Berlin (hooray!), you will need to arrange various bits of paperwork before you can start working. The main documents you will need to show your new German employer will include:
German tax ID (Steueridentifikationsnummer)
German social security number (Sozialversicherungsnummer)
Further details of all these documents and how you can obtain them can be found here.